There’s Up, there’s Shrek, and then there’s…this. It’s a bit of experimental computer animation of a cat done in Russia in 1968. The scientists who made it created hundreds of ASCII art images of the kitty, then printed them out and filmed them pose by pose.

It’s hard to understand the thrill that early computer imaging produced for those who could see the future. Early efforts, crude by today’s standards, were a quantum leap of innovation. It was magic, truly enthralling.

I would argue that what counts is the delta, or the incremental difference, and not the absolute result.

I remember being blown away by the first computer animation films in the late 1960’s.

By the same token, I think that Morse’s telegraphy was a truly exciting threshold, perhaps unmatched since.

What does this have to do with computers or CGI? They produced on a computer
ASCII art and then printed it to make stills for a film. Sounds like the same way Steam Boat Bill was made,except the stills were drawn by hand,and the results much more pleasing.In’68 just about everyone had some ASCII art tacked up on the office wall.Making a flip book is no big stretch.